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Auto production in first 8 months of 2011 up 5% year-on-year: FTI
Rolf Peter Gottfried Schulze.
Elfi Seitz
Germany’s ambassador to Vietnam has been tapped to head
the country’s embassy in Thailand.
Rolf Peter Gottfried Schulze, 58, succeeds Hanns
Schumacher, who had been Germany’s ambassador to Thailand since 2008.
A member of Germany’s diplomatic service since 1980,
Schulze has worked in embassies in Trinidad & Tobago, Japan, Spain, China
and Vietnam, where his term expired in July.
Schulze is still on travel, but is expected to take up
his duties in the capital soon.
AFG paints itself green
Uli Kaiser of EMAG talks about
Green Manufacturing - Profitable Manufacturing.
Dr. Iain Corness
The September discussion in the Automotive Focus Group
(AFG) was opened by the president, James Beeson, who introduced the speaker
Uli Kaiser of EMAG, with the subject being Green Manufacturing - Profitable
Manufacturing.
The presentation featured some ‘groundbreaking’ new
technology which allows cost reduction of up to 50 percent, through savings
in cycle time, material, labor, energy and consumables.
Uli was very enthusiastic about the new technologies,
especially with the fact that by reducing the cycle time this in turn
produces cost savings. He used the example of differing ways to produce
shafts in the auto industry. By employing hard turning rather than grinding
there was a 50 percent saving in cycle time. However, by using bar peeling
rather than hard turning there was another 50 percent saving. However, the
very latest technology of using synchro support grinding produced a 90
percent saving in time versus all others.
Other technologies mentioned included laser welding in
differentials, rather than bolting the gear wheel to the hub carrier. This
produces differentials that are lighter and less costly to produce.
One manufacturing technique which was very interesting,
was in the production of camshafts. Rather than machine these from the
billet, the cam lobes and the shaft were produced separately and then the
heated lobes were shrunk on to the camshaft under computer control to have
the lobes facing the correct way. A much faster way to produce a camshaft
compared to the age-old method of cam grinding.
The AFG acts as a forum for gathering and sharing
information related to the Thailand Automotive Industry in general, but
particularly the Automotive OEM’s and Suppliers in the Eastern Seaboard.
Contact with the AFG can be made through the president,
James Beeson (jabeeson @truemail.co.th) and the website
www.afg-thailand.blogspot.com.
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City, ministry ink low-interest
home loan agreement
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome (2nd left)
signs a memorandum of understanding for low interest home loans, with the
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
Manoon Makpol
Low-income Pattaya residents will be able to apply for
low-interest home loans from a 100 million baht partnership between the city
and national governments.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome signed the memorandum of
understanding with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security
Sept. 16. Under the Baan Munkhong loan project, the ministry will allocate
37.8 million baht for the 4 percent loans and 46.7 million baht for
construction of 290 homes over 15 years.
Pattaya has earmarked a contribution of another 15.2
million baht to support the program.
Itthiphol said the city is continually working to improve
living conditions for the poor.
‘THAI Smile Air’ operational July 2012
THAI Smile Air, Thai Airways International (THAI)’s new sub-brand carrier,
will begin operations in July next year, according to THAI President
Piyasvasti Amranand.
Piyasvasti said the business and investment plan of THAI
Smile Air is concluded and that the airline will operate with domestic
routes to provinces such as Chiang Rai, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon
Thani, and Khon Kaen.
THAI’s low-cost business unit managing director Capt
Woranate Laprabang said last month that the airline will use Suvarnabhumi
Airport as its hub.
The airline will open international routes in 2013 and
will focus on penetrating the markets of China, India and countries in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
THAI Smile Air will receive four 174-seat Airbus A320
aircraft in June, August and September next year, and another two in January
and March 2013.
Personnel for the unit will be from WingSpan Services, an
outsourcing company in which THAI is a stakeholder. Applications open in
October with an initial requirement for 40 pilots and 100 female flight
attendants, secondary school graduates not over age 24 having TOEIC scores
of at least 600.
According to Piyasvasti, the new airline’s image will be
based on a trendy, friendly and worthy concept, different than the general
concept of other low-cost airliners.
The carrier is positioned to be a light-premium sub-brand
of THAI, offering passengers another option for flight services. Innovative
designs are already underway for staff uniforms, aircraft logo and related
designs.
The airline’s name ‘THAI Smile Air’ was approved in
August by the THAI executive board. (MCOT)
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Auto production in first 8 months of 2011 up 5% year-on-year: FTI
Thailand’s total auto production in the first eight months of this year was
1.1 million units, up 5.23 percent, according to Surapong Paisitpattanapong,
spokesman of the Federation of Thai Industry (FTI)’s automotive group.
Surapong said that auto production from Sept to Nov 2011
was forecast at 534,139 units while motorcycle production from Sept to Nov
2011 totaled 627,374 units.
Motorcycle production in August totaled 306,346 units, up
45.36 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, domestic auto sales in August totaled 79,043
units, an increase of 8.42 percent from the previous month and an increase
of 20.3 percent year-on-year as the country’s economy continued to grow.
Motorcycle sales reached 190,718 units, up 17.35 percent
from the same period last year and up 7.1 percent from the previous month
this year.
From Jan to Aug 2011, auto sales totaled 583,958 units,
rising by 19.6 percent from the same period last year while motorcycle sales
in the first eight months were 1.4 million, up 15.77 percent year-on-year.
Auto production in August this year totaled 153,180
units, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, an increase of 4.04 percent from the
previous month. (MCOT)
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